Search Results for: meal prep

Coconut Quinoa Porridge

This post is brought to you by Bare Snacks, but all words and eats are my own. Thanks for supporting the sponsors that keep me hungry!

Coconut quinoa porridge with cinnamon and maple ready in 15 minutes on the stovetop for a quick breakfast alternative to oatmeal!

I can’t sleep if it’s hot.

Every night before I got to sleep I bump down the number on my Nest thermostat to 69 degrees.

Yep, even in the fall and winter.

I love dosing off to sleep cocooned in cozy cotton sheets and comforter with the cool air current whirling around my face.

The next morning I break the stillness by stretching into pajama pants and long sleeves and take the descent downstairs.

My place doesn’t regulate temperature very efficiently, so there’s a noticeable ten degree temp drop each time you run down a flight of stairs.

So if it’s cold upstairs, it’s colder downstairs, and frigid in the basement.

Hot breakfasts on the main level are necessary as I stand in wool socks and wait for the sun to warm the wooden floor boards.

This Coconut Quinoa Porridge simultaneously warms and fuels you for the day ahead.

It’s ready in just 15 minutes for a quick breakfast alternative to oatmeal!

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SunButter Sugar Cookies

By Flora & Vino 1 Comment

3-ingredient “sugar” cookies made gluten and grain-free with SunButter! Finish them with red and green sprinkles for a festive treat.

Have you started decorating for the holidays yet?

I usually have a hard and fast rule of taking things one holiday at a time.

Which means I’m still hard at work on my Thanksgiving menu, thank you very much.

But many of my friends have told me they’ve already got their Christmas trees out and ready to rock around.

Which I support 100% , especially this year.

With much of the world spending more time at home than ever before, why not making it as cozy and Christmas-y for as long as possible?

Even though I haven’t started decorating or gift-giving yet, I did get my annual snowman Christmas cards in the mail.

If you’ve been following me a while you might know that Christmas cards are my thing.

I tried to explain my tradition to M, recently, who laughed and shook his head.

Yes, I’ve been writing snowman Christmas cards since I was 16 and yes I will continue to do so forever and ever.

Because there’s something about the joy of gifting and receiving snail mail that nothing else can come close to trumping.

Except, maybe, baking Christmas cookies.

I have a really simple, healthy, and deliciously festive cookie to share with you today that’s totally grain-free, refined-sugar-free, and oil-free.

You can make these SunButter Sugar Cookies with just 3-ingredients for a festive holiday treat!

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Butternut Squash Pie with Almond Flour Crust

By Flora & Vino Leave a Comment

Vegan and gluten-free butternut squash pie with an almond flour crust. Perfect for a fun holiday dessert alternative to pumpkin pie!

Hey, guys!

Tomorrow will officially be two weeks until Thanksgiving Day.

What do you have planned for Thanksgiving?

Ever since the severity and length of the pandemic was obvious, I started to stress about how the holiday season would pan out.

“But what about the holidays?”

The thought loomed in my mind all summer and fall.

As COVID continues to rage on in United States, the fourth Thursday of November will look a little differently for me.

I’ll be zooming my parents and sister to share our Thanksgiving plates instead of sitting across from each other at their dining room table.

But friends, the most wonderful time of the year can still be wonderful.

Let’s create new traditions this year, like this Butternut Squash Pie with Almond Flour Crust.

It’s vegan and gluten-free with a sweet and creamy squash filling and a flaky almond flour based pie crust.

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Sweet Potato Mash with Sautéed Mushrooms + Pinot Noir

By Flora & Vino 1 Comment

Sweet potato mash with sautéed mushrooms and thyme. Perfect for a plant-based entrée or fall side served with a glass of Pinot Noir!

Have you ever heard people say that what you put on the Internet will be there forever?

Well, I never did, until this week.

M showed me a website the other day that acts as an Internet archive for past website content.

I’ve deleted my fair share of Internet content over the years, including but not limited to: a Xanga from high school, several Twitter accounts, and my first blog that I deleted.

I always assumed that when I hit the “delete all site content” button on those sites, that those words and pictures were gone forever.

Nope.

I sat incredulous as this Internet site that I’d never heard of pulled up an index of my past blog posts from 2014 and 2015.

The internet was bit laggy, as though it struggled to reach back in time to resuscitate the content I’d discarded.

When the page finally loaded, it was like staring at a friendly ghost.

I had to smile, because 20-something Lauren was a budding food blogger even then, writing about vegan muffins and fluffy feelings accented by crude cropped iPhone photos.

It definitely put into perspective how far I’ve come, even when I feel stuck behind the camera, in the kitchen, and in life.

And in that moment I was filled with immense gratitude that I can call my kitchen my office and create every day.

So I can bring you meals like this Sweet Potato Mash with Sautéed Mushrooms + Pinot Noir.

This cozy autumn dish combines sweet potatoes and mushrooms in a creative pairing with Pinot Noir!

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Pumpkin Almond Butter Brownies

By Flora & Vino 11 Comments

Grain-free and oil-free brownies made super fudge-y with almond butter, almond flour, and pumpkin. Bake a pan for a decadent fall dessert!

Today I tackled my tax preparation for the year 2020.

If you own your own business, you might be familiar with the beast that is tracking and categorizing your annual expenses.

Usually I’m much further along than I am right now.

Partially because Dan used to take care of all of the tax *stuff* for me because he liked spreadsheets and I like that he liked spreadsheets.

Also because when COVID hit the tedious parts of being an entrepreneur felt all the more taxing (ha, pun totally intended).

But I decided recently that I needed to get that ish done for several valid reasons.

For one, the bulging magazine rack stuffed with receipts was always on my mind, which definitely detracted from my creative energy.

Secondly, I think I needed to prove to myself that I could be responsible and organized enough to do this tax prep thing alone.

It was basically the last thing that I hadn’t officially taken over since the divorce.

So this morning I used up all the ink printing Amazon purchases, online grocery receipts, and business subscriptions.

Then I squinted at the monstrous Excel spreadsheet columns and relearned how to create formulas for cell addition (I’m not an Excel person, guys!).

And, finally, I sat cross-legged on my geometric area rug and shoved receipts into dated manilla envelopes.

The relief I felt when the enormous pile of papers was sorted and the tallied totaled was immeasurable.

I’ll try to measure it by comparing it to the deliciousness of these Pumpkin Almond Butter Brownies.

These 1-bowl brownies are vegan, gluten-free, and oil-free with a hint of pumpkin and lots of cacao!

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Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Balls

By Flora & Vino 2 Comments

Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Balls made with a sweet refined-sugar-free peanut butter center. Make them for a healthier homemade M&MS!

This week I finished my first hard copy book of 2020 and I’m pretty proud of myself.

I’ve finished a few other books for my monthly bookclub, but those were all done via the Audible app.

One of my best friends, Laura, would tell you that my version of read-listening *doesn’t count*.

But come on, friends, it totally does!

Sometimes I read-listen while doing jumping jacks upstairs in the spare bedroom, other times it’s while sudsing up pots and pans in the sink with my green rubber gloves on, and sometimes it’s while I make funny faces and swipe up on my eyelashes with black mascara.

While it’s lovely to be able to multitask, I do agree with Laura that tangible books are special.

There’s nothing quite like holding a paperback between both hands with bedsheets tucked up to your chin.

It’s the little things like reading a book from cover to cover that feel normal and nice that I cling to right now.

The book that I just finished was Rachel Hollis’s “Didn’t See That Coming”, which I highly recommend.

I also highly recommend that you start thinking about what clean candy you’re going to make for this Halloween.

Because I have a copycat recipe for you that starts with M and ends in M.

These Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Balls are made with a sweet refined-sugar-free peanut butter center and a dark chocolate coating!

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Low Sugar Fig Jam & Apple Chips

By Flora & Vino Leave a Comment

This post is brought to you by Bare Snacks, but all words and eats are my own. Thanks for supporting the sponsors that keep me hungry!

Three ingredient fig jam made with fresh figs, lemon, and a drizzle of maple syrup. The perfect fall spread to top on toast, warm oatmeal, or yogurt bowls.

It’s getting colder, but I still haven’t turned on the heat in my place.

I wake up to a cool 68 degree living room, where I stumble to the couch, swaddle myself in blankets, and do my morning journaling while sipping on a matcha latte.

I kind of like it.

Lately I’ve been working on reducing my energy consumption.

Yep, I’ve been giving the dial knob on my Nest thermostat a bit of a breather.

Like not heating and cooling to a perfect 72 degrees, but instead ebbing and flowing with the changing fall temperatures.

This means embracing chilly mornings with sweaters and long pants and warmer afternoons with open windows and tank tops.

I’ve found a nice surrender and presence in accepting and adapting to the weather outside the window.

Ah, autumn.

I’ve also been embracing all of the seasonal fall produce, like fresh figs and apples.

This Low Sugar Fig Jam & Apple Chips is the naturally sweet fall snack that you need this fall!

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Cinnamon Sautéed Apples

By Flora & Vino Leave a Comment

This post is brought to you by Bare Snacks, but all words and eats are my own. Thanks for supporting the sponsors that keep me hungry!

Healthier “fried” apples made on the stovetop with tart apples, apple cider, fall spices, and coconut sugar. Serve with crushed apple chips for dessert!

This week I tugged down my zipped storage I had balanced on the shelves at the tippy top of my closet.

I was looking for a long sleeved pullover to take outdoor climbing with me the next morning.

Specifically, I was looking for the turquoise one that half-zips with the Nike swoosh.

I didn’t find it.

Instead, fuzzy sweaters, knitted scarves, and long socks tumbled out of zippered compartments.

Distracted, I reached for the bright woolen fabrics, feeling simultaneously nostalgic for autumns past and excited for future falls.

If you’ve been around here a while, you know that I rotate my clothing seasonally so my wardrobe stays trim and manageable.

This way, I reason, I only see options that are practical for the weather.

Kind of like eating seasonally, but with clothing.

And what’s in season right now is sweater weather with a side of apples.

I have tons of apples at home from a produce box so let’s put them to good use in a sweet fall dessert.

These Cinnamon Sautéed Apples are a vegan and refined-sugar-free take on the classic southern side.

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Sweet Potato Spice Granola

By Flora & Vino 2 Comments

This post is brought to you by Safeway, but all words and eats are my own. Thanks for supporting the sponsors that keep me hungry!

Sweet potato spice granola made oil-free with creamy almond butter and lightly sweetened with maple syrup. Gluten-free with a grain-free option!

Last weekend I embarked on an epic bike ride to the store on the purple bike I’ve had since I was 16.

Without many pandemic plans, we decided it would be quite an adventure to bike to pick up our essentials instead of driving.

It sounded easy enough; bike there and back with purchased items in tow.

So naturally, I shrugged off the idea of bringing water or snacks or anything sensible like that.

And then what started out as what Google maps projected to be a 29 minutes bike ride turned into a 2+ hour workout there and back.

I didn’t really realize this, guys, but there are virtually no bike paths on the route I took.

Instead, we were forced to navigate through neighborhoods, sidewalks, and the dreaded main road, where aggressive drivers honked and sped around us like our two wheels had personally offended them.

“This is the most action my bike has seen in over a decade,” I huffed and puffed, pedaling in the rear.

We rode over hard over grass, gravel, asphalt, and cement.

And then there was that lovely muddy patch that back-splashed all over my bare calves.

Sexy.

When we finally made it to the store for item pick up, I ended up dashing inside for a bottle of water and a power bar.

I wish I’d had a bag of homemade granola with me.

Like this Sweet Potato Spice Granola that’s simple and sweet, made gluten-free with hearty oats and nuts and naturally sweetened with maple syrup and sweet potato!

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Vegan 7-Layer Mexican Dip

By Flora & Vino 1 Comment

Vegan 7-layer dip with refried beans, guacamole, salsa, cauliflower cashew queso, tomatoes, black olives, and green onion. Serve with grain-free crackers!

Serious question– do you wash your avocados?

Usually I rinse mine (*so* important so bacteria from outside of the avo isn’t transferred inside when slicing), then cut them open with a blade.

Until recently.

The other day my friend taught me an epic way to open avocados.

He grabbed an avocado, and, applying pressure with both hands, split it open like two halves of a coconut.

The creamy green flesh protruded out between two crudely but efficiently torn halves he presented in his hands like an offering.

I stared, dumbfounded.

If you could open avocados without using a knife, what other shortcuts have I missed in the kitchen?

This Vegan 7-Layer Mexican Dip might leave your mouth hanging open, too.

It’s easily assembled for a quick appetizer with seven plant-based layers that are prime for dipping and snacking!

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Search Results for: meal prep

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